Baby born at Dhaka metro rail station in Agargaon

In a first, a woman gave birth to a child at Agargaon Metro Rail Station in the capital with help of a scout member.

Both the mother and the baby boy were later sent to a hospital and are doing well, said officials of the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL).

The woman has been identified as Sonia Rani Roy, who was travelling with her husband Sukanto Shaha by metro rail from Uttara in the morning for a health check-up at the Renaissance Hospital in Dhanmondi, said Mahfuzur Rahman, manager of DMTCL.

But Sonia began to experience labour pain while on the train.

“Upon learning about the situation, our scout members and DMTCL staff took her to Agargaon station’s first aid room right after the train arrived. With the help of our scout members and Doctor Ferdaus Akter, Sonia Rani successfully gave birth to a baby boy within 10 minutes,” said Mahfuzur. The scout, who helped in the child’s birth is also named Sonia.

After giving first aid to the woman and her baby, the DMTCL authorities transferred them to the nearest hospital by an Italian-Thai Development Company’s ambulance, he added.

The Metro Rail authorities said they might send some gifts to the child later.

Bangladesh’s first-ever metro rail was opened to the public on the Uttara-Agargaon route in the capital on December 29 amid huge enthusiasm, a day after Prime minister Sheikh Hasina launched the service.

According to the DMTCL, metro rail carried 90,000 passengers in the first 10 days, between December 29 and January 8.